Prior-art central commissioning devices, e.g., the so-called automatic A-frame unit, as well as semi-manual commissioning systems, in which articles are first distributed onto a central belt and subsequently into a container, have, in general, the drawback that only articles that can withstand this handling without being damaged can be commissioned.
Articles that are too large, too heavy or too fragile for such a handling must first be placed, as before, either onto a belt or pushed out automatically in a so-called “pick-to-belt system,” by which said belt they are brought to a packing station or are packed in a shipping container or cardboard box in a machine built especially for this purpose, or the articles are placed directly from a commissioning shelf into a shipping container or cardboard box or are packed by a machine built especially for this purpose.
It may happen in modern commissioning warehouses that commissioning is to be performed in a mix of articles, which is composed of both articles which are suitable for a central belt, i.e., are relatively lightweight and robust, and articles which are not suitable for a central belt, i.e., are relatively large, heavy or fragile. Such article compositions can be found, for example, in drug stores, the food industry and in the electronics wholesale business.
The procedure followed hitherto in such cases is to separate this mix of articles into articles which are suitable for a central belt, which can be fed to a central commissioning device, in order to utilize the advantages of such a device in commissioning, and articles which are not suitable for a central belt, which continue to be packed into shipping containers or cardboard boxes manually or by means of a machine built especially for this purpose. Such a separation is performed, in principle, such that warehouse sites that are different in space, which also differ in terms of their commissioning means, are either connected with one another over relatively long paths by means of materials handling technology or are handled in a separated manner. It is disadvantageous that a plurality of warehouse areas must be distinguished, and a corresponding dividing of the articles must be carried out. Furthermore, there is the drawback that in the case of commissions that require articles from both areas, namely, articles which are suitable for a central belt and articles which are not suitable for a central belt, it is either necessary to travel over a long path, as a result of which the transit times of the commissions become longer, or it is necessary to provide two different containers for one commission.